I Know You’re Weary

I’m weary. I’ve been trying to pinpoint my emotions in these last few weeks and this is where I am. Weary. Burdened. Tired. But the other night, as I was praying (and crying) through this, I could just hear Jesus saying to me, “I know you’re weary, I know you’re tired, but you’ve got to trust me. I’ve got you.” I’m always amazed by the ways that the Lord works, through my disappointment and through my weakness, through my fear and yes, through my weariness. Dependency on Jesus reaches a new level, when even caffeine can’t help you make it through the day (just kidding…mostly).

But it wasn’t just sleep that I was depriving myself of. It was Jesus.

In these last few days, I’ve been grasping for rest. I’ve felt like I’ve had nothing left to give, no endurance left in me. I’ve been searching for rest and not just the physical, sleep kind of rest. I’ve been needing Jesus, the real rest. The rest I’ve been needing hasn’t been solved by sleep in the slightest. I think that’s why I’ve been so completely drained and exhausted, because I haven’t made time for Jesus in my tiredness and weariness. I tried to handle it on my own. But I was depriving myself of the only real rest, Jesus Christ, and my physical body paid for it.

I’m completely incapable of fixing my feelings, emotions, surroundings, or fixing even my physical state without the help of the Lord. I’ve been realizing this the hard way, that I’m absolutely, completely incapable of anything without Jesus.

When you put Jesus into the equation, the rest you’re searching for can be gratified.

For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.{Jeremiah 31:25}

Just like God’s promise to Judah in this passage in Jeremiah to satisfy and replenish the nation’s weary souls as they were about to join Israel in exile, He offers us the same promise in Matthew, rest for our weariness when we follow after Him. What an awesome testament to God’s unchanging nature.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. {Matthew 11:28-30}

What’s breaking me right now, is that my Jesus cares. He cares that I feel weary, He cares that I feel overwhelmed and tired. He cares to give me rest, and I just know that I should trust a God who cares about the seemingly small things. This verse says “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me…” and I don’t think that should be ignored. Our souls will find true, complete rest when we become yoked in relationship with Jesus, no way around that.

So even here. Even when you feel like you have nothing else to give, no more energy, no more love, no more forgiveness, no more words to say; even here, when it seems like there is no end in sight to your week, to your busyness, to your frustration, you’ve got to trust the Lord and you’ve got to let Him sustain you and keep you.

I don’t think I’ll ever quite grasp the vastness of rest I can have in Jesus, but for right now, I’m going to bask in that unimaginable love and rest, knowing that the rest He offers me, is far beyond what any 8-hours-of-sleep-night can satisfy. And I pray, in your times of weariness, you too can seek after the one true source of rest, Jesus Christ.